"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
Edmund Burke
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5 February 1987. Thought for the Week:
"There is no point now in trying to gloss over the circumstances
in which the country of which you are rightly proud began.
Indeed, to face those facts is a necessary part of realising
just how proud you should be. For the sad truth is, that in
those early days of the colony nobody was free. The men who
guarded the convicts were in prison with them ... But the
best part about the story is that they made their prison into
a new home, where freedom became not just the dream of those
in shackles, but a reality for everybody. It didn't happen
by accident. It took the intelligence and courage of brave
men and women."
Prince Charles at Sydney Australia Day celebrations, January 26th, 1988 |
THE 'AUSSIE' SPIRIT IS STILL THEREThe spirit which dominated the celebration of 200 years of Australian history, since Captain Arthur Phillip concluded one of the most amazing voyages in human history, was a living testimony to the fact that the traditional spirit which produced Australia, is still alive. January 26th, 1988, was a success story in every way. Representing Her Majesty the Queen, Prince Charles and his wife were the centre of an attraction which left no doubt that the cause of Republicanism had few supporters. Even Prime Minister Bob Hawke was given a clear message, with a sea of waving Australian flags and Union Jacks, Bob Hawke was forced by events to welcome the First Fleet re-enactment, which he had originally indicated did not have his support. Later this year the Republican Bob Hawke will also be welcoming the Queen. It was appropriate that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Archbishop Edward Clancy, offered a prayer for NSW at the commemoration of Customs House Square of the founding of the State, and that Anglican Archbishop Donald Robinson offered the prayer of thanksgiving at the Bicentennial Australia Day commemoration at the Opera House. These Christian leaders reminded Australians of their Christian heritage. In his speech at the Customs House Square, NSW Governor James Rowland reminded Australians that the Australian pioneer "Built brick by brick on the solid foundations of (the) British legal and democratic parliamentary heritage." But it was Prince Charles who went right to the heart of what Australians should be celebrating. He said, "One of Australia's oldest ties with the oldest of its old countries is the rule of law. They were harsh judges who sent the first Australians out here, but there were wisely framed laws that turned the convicts into free men and women. And free men and women helped make a democracy, which has become a model for the world. They didn't do it just by being good natured and easy-going… They did it carefully writing down the laws of a reasonable and humane society. The spirit of liberty that they felt within themselves they made legible to others. "The true celebration of this nation is in its Constitution. In those dry sounding, but hard fought for rules and regulations, every family in this remarkable country has its rights protected and cherished." It would be instructive to know what Fabian Prime Minister Hawke and his fellow totalitarians, striving to subvert the Constitution, thought of what Prince Charles said! The Bicentenary year can best be celebrated by heeding the message implicit in the Prince's remarks. While it is true that the party politicians have one of their best opportunities to exploit the Bicentennial celebrations for their own benefit, the spirit of January 26th, was evidence of what can be achieved in the critical times ahead. The enormous crowd in Sydney, its general behaviour, including a good natured tolerance of the relative few who came to protest about "land rights", demonstrated that Australians can unite behind a common cause. Defence and strengthening of the Federal constitution is a cause, which will help ensure that the tremendous achievements of the last 200 years are not lost. 1988 can be a turning period in Australian history, in more ways than one. |
BRIEF COMMENTSAccording to The Wellington Times of January 25th, National Party MP for Parkes, N.S.W., Mr. Michael Cobb, after dealing with some of the allegations of Mr. Peter Sawyer, says that "The League of Rights is now sponsoring Peter Sawyer in his claims and introducing him, on a lecture tour around Australia," Mr. Cobb is in error. We have already expressed the view that Peter Sawyer has undermined his own credibility by his rash predictions, none of which have been confirmed by events. On the eve of Australia Day Peter Sawyer issued what can only be described as a bizarre and irresponsible newsletter in which he said that an uprising of Aborigines in selected centres would result in a White backlash of violence against Aborigines. Television crews, present to record the Sydney celebrations, would arrive at the trouble centres, only to record White violence against Aborigines without reference to the cause of the backlash. Parents were advised to keep their children indoors, not even sending them to the local milk bar for milk. We can only speculate on the motives of Peter Sawyer in circulating this type of dangerous nonsense. Initially we felt that Peter Sawyer might have something worth investigating, and he was invited to speak at the 1987 Annual Dinner of the Sydney Conservative Speakers' Club. But a thorough investigation of Sawyer's claims, together with his false predictions, has demonstrated that he is merely providing comfort to the enemies of the League. Several readers have written asking if we have seen a recent "in depth" critical report on the League of Rights by a "Christian journalist", and a further attack by the Rev. Fred Niles. Yes, we have both reports and can only express our regret that such shallow, shoddy material can be issued in the name of Christianity. The "in depth" report is a re-hash of old material, some provided by anti-Christians. The Fred Nile report appears to be in response to the increasing impact, which Mr. Jeremy Lee has been having among some Church groups, and reflects the Zionist concern about growing League influence. The Fred Nile attack is being handled appropriately, and with Christian charity, by Jeremy Lee and others. We do not feel the need to spend valuable space on these attacks at this time. In his extravagant claims to support his theme that Australia was a multi-racial nation from the beginning, Mr. Al Grassby, Minister for Immigration in the first Whitlam Government, once told an ABC audience that the Italian community could claim to be as long established in Australia as the British. This claim has been repeated by well-known Republican Franca Arena of NSW. Grassby mentioned a Giuseppe Tuto in support of his claim. But it appears that the said Guiseppe Tuto was in fact Joseph Tuto, a Cornish boy sentenced to death at 14 for assault and robbery. The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and later volunteered to serve with Matthew Flinders in his famous circumnavigation of Australia during 1802-3. He was granted a pardon. Franca Arena mentions another "Italian", one Antonio Bazza, as having been with the First Fleet. But those who specialise in research can find no record of "Bazza". Western politicians generally know nothing
about Marxism-Leninism, while the term "dialectics" is a foreign
one, Prime Minister Hawke said in Singapore, on his way back
to Australia from Moscow last year, that "... the West would
be denying its responsibilities to mainly make assessments
about the Soviet Union on the basis of past performances."
Mr. Hawke not only welcomes "constructive Soviet political
involvement", but "economic involvement in the Asia-Pacific
region." Shades of the New International Economic Order. But
while Mr. Hawke urges the West to ignore the Soviet's past,
Mr. Gorbachev in his recently published Perestroika writes
that "The works of Lenin and his ideals of Socialism remain
for us an inexhaustible source of dialectical creative thought
…" |